Starters
I really like the following lines of a poem by Rudyard Kipling: I keep six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who. Whenever I’m trying...
Daily viva help for PhDs
I really like the following lines of a poem by Rudyard Kipling: I keep six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who. Whenever I’m trying...
We all know looking for a needle in a haystack is a fool’s errand. I understand why PhD candidates are interested in being well prepared for questions in the viva. Too often though the desire is expressed as wanting to...
Barriers. They’re in the way; maybe the way around them isn’t known, but they can usually be broken or overcome with time and investigation. Hurdles are flimsy barriers. You can see hurdles from a distance and make plans to clear...
Good answers don’t just appear on the day. Good answers to your examiners’ questions happen because you’ve done the work. Good answers happen because you know things. Good answers happen because you’re talented. I think great answers in the viva...
Viva candidates pretty much have all the answers. That’s not because the viva is easy or the questions are predictable or because candidates can somehow prepare for every possibility. The viva’s not a quiz game. Some questions in the viva...
I’m fond of short questions. After a chance conversation in a workshop last month I’ve been reflecting a lot on “What could I do?” “What could I do?” is, I think, at the heart of the research process. It’s the...
There’s a rule of thumb for the viva some examiners have mentioned to me: “The first question will be easy; the last question might not be.” There’s no trick to the first part of the statement. Examiners want the viva...
Quick exercise to get you reflecting on your whole PhD journey. What’s your… …favourite paper in your bibliography? …favourite discovery you made? …favourite meeting with your supervisor? …favourite conference talk you gave? …favourite question you’ve been asked? …favourite talk you...
In Jenga, whatever your intentions, you might knock the tower down at any moment. Your actions or a misplacement by the last player might make things so unstable that the tower can only fall. It’s tempting to think of the...
But what if my examiner says something I’ve done is rubbish? Imagine you’re in that position. What exactly did they say? It’s unlikely that they just used the word rubbish, but that’s what your brain has just made of their...